Posted on 02/01/2025 9:01:12 PM PST by Red Badger
There are advantages to shooting prairie dogs from a vehicle, and apparently it’s common practice in Wyoming — although technically illegal.
Casper-area resident Rob Ward said that he and a friend were shocked this past summer when, as they were shooting prairie dogs from the bed of a pickup, a game warden came by and told them they were breaking the law.
“This whole situation we found ourselves in, my buddy and I, is kind of ridiculous,” he said.
Avid hunter and gun dealer Scott Weber of Cody told Cowboy State Daily that like many Wyomingites, he also enjoys prairie dog shooting.
And he also had no idea that it was illegal to shoot at the burrowing rodents from a vehicle, because that’s what many people do.
In fact, he’s even heard of dedicated prairie dog shooters attaching shooting benches to flatbed trucks.
“In Wyoming there is a lot of shooting from vehicles on private land. There just is, because that’s the best way to cover the ground,” said Weber, the owner of Gunrunner Firearms & Auctions.
Ward said that prairie dogs are widely regarded as a nuisance species that can be destructive to agriculture around Wyoming. And usually, all bets are off when it comes to getting rid of them on private farm and ranch land.
The ban on shooting them from a vehicle is because of an obscure quirk in how Wyoming classifies some wildlife species, he said.
“I don’t know why I can take a stick of dynamite and put it in a prairie dog hole and blow it up, and that’s legal, but shooting it off my truck isn’t,” he said.
When You Can Shoot From A Vehicle Ward said he and his friend got a verbal warning from the game warden and weren’t ticketed.
But the incident still irritated him, so he reached out to Rep. Bill Allemand-R, Midwest.
Allemand is sponsoring House Bill 2011, which would clarify that it’s legal to kill prairie dogs and other wildlife, such as mice, from or inside a vehicle.
Allemand previously stated that as the law stands, people technically could be sent to jail for trapping mice inside their pickups.
When, where and whether it’s legal to shoot from a vehicle in Wyoming is complicated.
It’s illegal to shoot from a public roadway or highway, period.
It’s also illegal to shoot big game or trophy game animals such as deer, elk or black bears from a vehicle. The only exception to that rule is for disabled hunters with special permits.
If a vehicle is parked off a public roadway or on private property, it is legal to shoot predatory animals from a vehicle.
Predatory animals include coyotes, jackrabbits, porcupines, raccoons, red foxes, skunks, stray cats and in much of Wyoming, wolves.
However, it remains illegal to shoot “other wildlife” from a vehicle or to kill them with or inside a vehicle.
Prairie dogs aren’t a protected species in Wyoming. They can legally be killed just about anywhere an in any manner. That includes shooting as many as you want until you run out of ammo.
However, prairie dogs fall into that broad category of “other wildlife” (but not predatory animals), so it’s not legal to fire any shots at them from a vehicle. Or even using any part of the vehicle, such as resting a rifle on a pickup’s hood or tailgate.
‘Who Is Even Going To Get Stopped For This?’ Ward said he and his friend were on private land when they were stopped by the game warden this summer.
A rancher friend of theirs was more than happy to invite them onto his land to blast some prairie dogs.
“He’s got a little stretch there that’s just inundated with prairie dogs. There are hundreds of them. He just wants them gone,” Ward said.
The trouble was, the grass was long enough to make it tough to get clear shots through their rifle scopes at ground level.
So, they decided to climb into the pickup bed and rested their rifles off the vehicle’s cap to get clear “ethical” shots, he said.
“Everyone I know has shot off a vehicle or from a vehicle at prairie dogs,” he said.
That’s why “it didn’t compute” when the game warden game by and told them they’d have to stop, because shooting from the truck was illegal, Ward said.
Ward said some have questioned why he’s so adamant about having such an obscure rule changed.
His response is that he loves hunting and fishing in Wyoming. Some clarification on the legality of a common activity — shooting prairie dogs from vehicles — could save somebody from getting into serious trouble over something so few hunters know about.
“Does this affect everybody in the state of Wyoming? No. But it affected me,” he said. “And I think I have just as much of a right as anybody to go to my representative to get something changed.
“Some people have asked, ‘Who is even going to get stopped for this?’ Well, I was.”
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
Colorado has a sort of Make My Day law for “varmints” (which are defined in law). You can kill any number of them by just about any means, without needing any license, so long as they are on your property or you have permission of the property owner, and they have caused or could cause any damage or harm or financial losses.
Prarie dogs are on list - except in Boulder county.
... except in Boulder county....
Figures................
Not supposed to shoot across a waterway (river) or hwy in CA.
Those prairie dogs on the right are paying close attention to the prairie dog on the left as he discusses ballistics of the new 6MM GT
Did this exact thing when I was six, with dad and his buddies. It’s how I learned what a shotgun can vaporize at close distances.
👊
When dad hunted on farms, the farmers gave permission if he killed every whistle pig he saw. Carried a .222 just for them. Mom used to bake them like a roast with potatoes, carrots amd onions.
And I can appreciate that those varmints are a huge nuisance. I ran over a half dozen of them (and had a dozen or more near misses) on a single trip from Casper to the Medicine Bow wilderness a few years back. Those things had a death wish scampering all over the road.
That’s to be expected from a city run by commies.
‘ except in Boulder county.’
Not surprising at all.
So, does “vehicle” include helicopter?
Were they tasty? For some reason I imagine them to be like a fatty pork..
My grandfather did say their meat was fatty. He ate them back in the day on the reservation.
No comment.
I used to shoot prairie dogs from the bed of my truck in Colorado - 22-250..
“Prarie dogs are on list - except in Boulder county.”
I watched the vermin slowly destroy the IBM grounds in Boulder over a period of 20 years.
I had a wheelchair-bound friend who had a special permit allowing him to shoot from the car. Rules still applied tho. Couldn't shoot across a traffic lane or waterway.
Yes, if I remember, mom removed a gland,but still a bit gamey.They are herbivores for the most part and as stated in this thread a varmit. In Kentucky it was open season. There’s pleanty of recipes out there.
There are restrictions in most (if not all) states to ‘hunting’ from a (street-legal) motor vehicle. I suspect that shooting “from, upon or across” a public road —in a vehicle or not — is illegal in all 50.
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